


Fruit Punch (Five Stars)

by orphan_account



Category: Dark Fate - Fandom, Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator Dark Fate, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Blindfolds, Butt Plugs, Collars, Enthusiastic Consent, F/F, Handcuffs, Leashes, Light Bondage, Nipple Clamps, PWP, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Sex Toys, Sex toys: All Of Them, Smut, Very Enthusiastic, Wholesome Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23781268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Grace and Dani play around with some new toys.
Relationships: Grace Harper/Dani Ramos
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	Fruit Punch (Five Stars)

**Author's Note:**

> Look, Quarantine’s been rough.
> 
> I will be orphaning this right away, so apologies in advance for any typos or spelling errors. Feel free to recommend/translate/fanwork etc.
> 
> Feedback always means a lot though and I will see it. Thanks for reading.

“What have you got, Sarah?”

“Three names,” Sarah says, handing Dani scrap of paper. “Confirmed they’re all still on the project. It’s a good place to start.”

“Kill ‘em?” asks Grace, between mouthfuls of bread.

Sarah snorts.

“I like the school spirit, but no. Project’s already underway, we could kill any twenty of these guys and it would still happen.”

“So we interrogate them and find out what we _can_ do,” says Dani definitively.

“Right.”

“Alright. Weapons we have, what else we do we need?” asks Grace.

“Our meds guy should be able to provide sodium pentathol, which wouldn’t hurt. I’m lining up a shitty van and a lockup already. And I’ll need to pick up some cuffs, I left my last pair on a security guy in Phoenix, but we might as well pick some up today.”

They drive for about an hour. Sarah pulls off the highway to a cluster of large, boxy buildings, all weathered by desert dirt. They share a single empty parking lot that shimmers in the heat. There are no houses or homes anywhere Dani can see. 

Sarah parks closest to the biggest building. The slogans and signs on the wall are so faded it takes Dani a while to make them out.

“This is a very enormous sex toy store,” she says, her voice less surprised than she might have expected.

“It sure is,” Sarah says. “Military surplus guys around here are all white supremacists and they’ve learned not to like me, so here we are. This place has everything up to, and including, prison transport shackles right next to the fluffy cuffs.”

“Huh,” Grace says, filing that with the rest of her ongoing2020 education.

Sarah gets her stuff from the glove compartment. Dani makes to go with her, but Sarah pauses.

“Not this time. Look, we’re not going to be stopping anywhere except to work or sleep for the next while, so here’s the deal - I’m gonna take fifteen minutes and get what I need in here. And then I’ll be in that diner next door for about an hour and change, because they do an okay steak I more than deserve. I’ll meet you back here in the car at -”

She checks her watch.

“- 1500 hours. ‘til then, you want to wait here, or go for a walk, or check out the fried chicken place which isn’t bad either, or whatever, that’s fine. I don’t want to know. I don’t want you coming in with me, and more importantly, I don’t want to know anything you do, or don’t do, for the next ninety minutes. Give me a fifteen minute headstart, I'll give you ninety. All I ask.”

She looks to Dani for an answer.

“Uh,” she says, “- Okay?”

“Okay. Then I will see you _here._ ” Sarah says with strict emphasis.

She grabs her stuff, gets out and heads on out, and Dani and Grace are silent long enough to hear the engine settle.

“I mean…” Dani starts, “We _have_ been moving nonstop for a while.”

She stretches to turn back to Grace; her lover of the last few months.

Grace stretches herself casually in the back seat.

“Sure,” she says in a half yawn.

“- And we don’t know when we’d ever get another chance.”

“No I mean “Sure, you don’t have to talk me into it", sure.”

They’re back in the car in time to meet Sarah, everything discreetly packed away. She doesn’t ask, they don’t tell.

Steak was fine, she says.

***** ****

There’s a lot of experimentation, some very enjoyable trial and error as they explore each other and themselves. Some stuff feels obvious, some stuff not so much.

For example – they quickly establish Grace doesn’t really respond to pain for its own sake, which isn’t a surprise, though she doesn’t mind it much. It just has no novelty or appeal for her. Dani’s very relieved about that, because she wouldn’t like doing it to her. She isn’t crazy about pain herself either, though she discovers a little incidental discomfort adds a subversive fizz she appreciates for sure.

Grace _is_ extremely sensitive and responsive in other ways. And she doesn’t mind nipple clamps, which is great. The visual is pretty exciting – they’ve gotten a set on a chain Dani loves seeing hang from Grace’s perfect breasts to rest against her incredible body. Though sometimes Grace can find them distracting if she’s overstimulated otherwise - Dani uses them sparingly, in their time and place.

They have another set, with two little silver bells on each, that Grace likes putting on Dani a lot more often. They make Dani feel like she’s on display, which is strange, but good - they make her self-conscious in a way she turns out to enjoy.

Grace doesn’t put them on her too tight; just enough that Dani must be fiercely aware of them until she's ready to soothe their sting away with her soft mouth. She loves Dani’s breasts, and she likes bringing focus to them one way or the other. The nagging sound of the little bells telegraphs every movement in a way that makes Dani blush.

Dani doesn’t really respond to being restrained. She just doesn’t. She doesn’t get much out of being blindfolded either, apart from some light amusement, though that’s fun too.

They do both enjoy Grace being restrained. They enjoy it a lot, in fact, though not entirely for the reasons Dani might have guessed. There’s nuance to it. It’s not just to keep Grace on edge or to tease her; Dani turns out to lack the patience for that, she always wants her too much. It works – and works very well - because it keeps Grace’s impulse to touch, give, to spoil Dani in check. It keeps her hands at bay, it keeps her focusing on what she can _feel_ , rather than all the things she wants to do to Dani at any given time. It also lets Dani do everything she dreams of to her hearts content, without distraction.

The blindfold is good for that too, especially with Grace’s superhuman sensitivity; it seems to dramatically amplify the effect of everything else on her. It's quite a combination.

They played around with rope for a while, but it wasn’t of interest to Dani, and just seemed insubstantial on Grace.

The leather cuffs are a different story. Heavy, thickly padded black leather cuffs that link by a heavy steel chain at both ends. They’re designed so she can adjust how much leeway they allow by clipping different links of the chain to the cuffs as desired. They’re the only thing they got that that seemed genuinely intimidating in the store; so solid and sturdy it’s hard to picture even Grace getting free of them.

Strangely, Dani thinks that might be part of what she enjoys about them – wondering if Grace might be powerful enough to be able to free herself any second, the second she decides to, and wondering if not. They haven’t really used the bigger ankle set much, but the wrist cuffs are versatile enough to get regular use.

Grace seems to like the gag the same way she liked the cuffs – it narrows her focus. It means she has no choice but to listen to every delicious thing Dani wants to tell her. She likes it when Dani tells her things to make her feel good. Dani likes knowing for sure that she hears them.

Dani could take or leave the gag; Grace does most of her communicating to her physically anyway, perhaps that’s why. Grace admits she misses hearing Dani’s feedback, too. They don't get much chance to test it any further, for either of them, when it becomes moot - one night, Grace comes especially hard and bites right through the strap.

*****

Grace tries wearing the strap-on first, at Dani’s suggestion.

Dani sits on the bed watching her buckle it on, testing the weight of it a little tentatively.

“What are you thinking?” she asks, a little anxiously.

“It looks dumb,” Grace says. “Feels kind of goofy, too.”

“If you don’t like it, we can do plenty of other things. I just wanted to try it out.”

“No, I mean it’s fine, I’m just saying,” she shrugs. “All that really matters to me is what it does.”

What it does _is_ pretty good, it turns out.

Dani crawls back onto the bed slowly and deliberately, making sure Grace can see every inch of her as she settles up on her elbows to brace herself. She sweeps her long hair all over one shoulder, and looks over the other with a sly smile, and a dangerous flare in her dark eyes. Dani’s body is incredibly beautiful – if Grace had never laid eyes on her, she’d have surely imagined her someday.

Grace kneels and positions herself behind her, stroking her sides as she settles.

It’s obvious how aroused she is already, but Grace means to take care. She dispenses some lube into her palm, slicking it onto the toy she’s bearing a few times, and then on onto Dani’s sensitive flesh. She repeats the motion a few times more than _strictly_ necessary; she can feel how restless Dani is under her touch already, and it's good.

She strokes Dani’s sides again with her open hands, leaving traces of liquid that shimmer on her dark skin. The sweet scent of fruit punch gets stronger as Dani’s body heat warms the stuff up. Dani was right of course - the strawberry would have been overpowering.

She experiments a little and then guides the toy in, pushing slowly, carefully, so Dani can adjust to all of it. She can see just enough of her face to study the effects on her the whole way.

She pauses, and withdraws. Dani pushes herself back a little to encourage her; Grace takes hold of her hips and pushes forward again with more conviction. Only when she’s very confident does she build into a strong, steady stroke that rolls right into Dani and back, into her and back. She picks up the pace slowly, feeling out the motion that feels and works best with some gradual trial and error.

To have Dani from behind in this way, to see her body behave like this, it feels a little primal and barbarian, and it’s exciting to need these new and differently urgent kinds of movement. She wants more though, and even as their momentum gathers she feels the nag of some kind of frustration, a kind of distance she can’t quite define.

Dani seems to sense it too, and signals a pause. She’s already panting hard enough by now that she needs a moment before she can communicate. She eases herself free, and beckons Grace onto the bed as she catches her breath.

She has Grace lie down, and moves over her without a spoken word. Her eyes smoulder like dark embers, and she carefully lowers herself onto the toy, arms pillared to Grace’s chest stiffly to counter her slightly unsteady legs. Grace watches mesmerized, studying every detail of her face as she takes her in her arms, and Dani looks right back until she's close against her.

Dani’s instincts are keen as always. This is exactly what Grace was missing. Now she can see her, now she can take in every subtle signal on her features, and she can feel Dani’s weight and energy against her the way she needs to.

Grace’s hands go to Dani of their own accord, cupping her breasts roughly or sinking her fingers into the supple shapes of her ass. She grips her hips firmly and starts pushing up into her and pulling her down at once; but she’s ready to offer support when Dani starts to lean back, to use the sensation of the toy inside her right where she needs it.

She enjoys having both her hands free to enjoy Dani’s whole body like this, and the novelty of the mechanics - they may be new movements for Grace, but she has a more fluent sense of her body than most, and can learn new ways to use it quickly. Their hips roll together into a grind that gathers quickly until it’s hard enough for Grace to feel the straps tug sharply around her each time. Dani rides her to a bruising climax, and her body hangs in an elegant arc as she comes that’s just stunning. It's beautiful to watch, and it's beautiful to watch the tensions and tremors of her orgasm play out. Grace enjoys all of it.

It doesn’t quite feel as… close, or complete for her as she would like though. As they think about it afterwards, Dani suggests maybe she’s been taking her overpowered senses for granted more than she realizes; maybe she’s accustomed to having sensation firing at once through all her enhanced pathways, and this wasn’t quite that. That makes sense to her.

She enjoyed it, she’ll do it again, but… it’s missing something somewhere other things offer her. Fun, but more like fast food than fine dining, is the comparison Dani offers. That makes sense to her too. Dani listens intently, grateful for Grace's honesty. She is still curious to try it herself though.

“Well?” Grace asks as she helps Dani strap it around herself.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Feels… weird to feel so much… movement. I think maybe getting the blue one was a mistake too, it makes me think of a dog toy.”

Grace laughs, and kisses her on the cheek.

“Same goes for you, if you’re not comfortable.”

“Oh no you don’t, you’re not getting off that lightly,” she says, with mock authority, and slaps a hand down onto Grace’s ass to make the point.

“Well okay then.”

She’s curious to try it like Grace did first, and she has her pull some covers and a pillow under herself for support.

She sweeps her hand up her back - maybe in reassurance, maybe just because she likes to - and gently guides her where she needs her. Fruit punch was definitely the right call, she thinks. Grace is probably beyond needing anything, but that’s not the point.

She teases her a little, just until she's sure they're both comfortable. She tests and probes a little way in, and then starts pushing the toy into her in earnest, until she hears Grace grunt softly into the covers.

“Okay?” she asks, trying not to sound too nervous.

Grace doesn't reply right away. She's letting herself experience and enjoy the slight strain, the sense of her body trying to both seize and resist this alien, artificial thing inside her, at the same time. The hard plastic doesn’t yield or move inside her as her muscles grip and move around it, there's no illusion of anything organic. It’s different. Not bad, but new.

“ _Ah…_ yeah. Keep going.”

“Tell me if I hurt you.”

“Do it.”

She does, pushing as far as she can, and hears Grace exhale slowly.

“ _Oh_ kay. You’re not gonna hurt me, do it.”

She strokes Grace’s back again in reply. Dani loves seeing all Grace’s obvious strength offered to her like this, as much as she loves being able to sense it from her if roles are reversed. From here she can appreciate just how sculpted her legs and buttocks are, she can read the slightest ripple of her muscles eloquently. She can admire every feature of her powerful back and shoulders, outlined here and there by her pale scar lines, as she draws back and pushes back into her with a smooth, single movement. 

But she’s much taller than Dani, and she’s kneeling low and wide, face first into the bed. Dani can’t really see her expression; she can only hear her breath catch. 

“Okay?”

“ _Yeah,_ ” Grace says in a rasp. Her hands form fists by her head, messy blonde hair just long enough to form a halo around her flushed, half hidden features. "Yeah."

Dani knows what worked for her, but she can already sense Grace wants something different. She definitely doesn’t seem to want fast or hard - Dani takes care to find the angle and pace she seems to like best, working out a solid, steady rhythm she can feel Grace’s body start to answer.

“You could touch yourself-” Dani says between gathering strokes, unsure if she’s requesting it, or just offering the suggestion, or if Grace can even really hear her at all.

Grace nods slowly against the bed regardless. She pushes a hand under herself and does just that, settling her other arm under her face as if she's shy. Dani hears only the fragment of a moan that seems to catch in her throat, and feels unpredictable new contractions start echoing against her.

It doesn’t take Grace long after that. The sharply drawn structures of her body show every play of her muscles as she starts approaching a peak – her body isn’t always as expressive as Dani’s own in some ways, but Dani knows the signs, she knows instinctively when it’s time to pick up the pace. Dani likes feeling Grace push back against her, and the animal energy of their hips rolling in time, just as she likes it when she starts losing time to spasms she can’t quite marshal.

Grace comes in a hard, intense break, muffling herself against the bedsheets, her body heaving just enough to hint at the storm roaring out in it.

She lets herself slump into the bed, and it’s a little while before she’s steady enough for Dani to carefully withdraw and come around to gather around her.

They talk about it afterwards, and what they’d do and do differently next time. There will be a next time though for sure. Probably some time they’ve got energy they need to buck out after getting back from something life or death. Fast food, not fine dining, like Dani says. Though maybe after all the time they’ve had together, they’ve given each other particularly high standards for the regular menu.

*****

Neither of them, it turns out, are especially excited about spanking in isolation, though a few claps in the heat of the moment can come naturally, so the spanker is sometimes left within reach. They got the one with the heart on it - it's the only thing Grace showed any hint of embarrassment about as they carried armfuls of merchandise to the register.

*****

In the meantime, their experiments are interrupted. They do the first interrogation of three. It’s useful, and nobody’s hurt, but it’s frightening and unpleasant, and for a while either side of it, the love they make is slow, gentle, and unadorned. There’s nothing exploratory or playful about it – it’s just about staying connected, and finding solace in each other.

An unspoken agreement emerges between them to not talk that stuff in the safehouse bedroom they share from then on. It’s not a subject anyone could sleep peacefully under.

They keep the van in the end, though they change the plates and the look of it a little. It’s so bland it’s almost invisible, and they will need it again. The rash of mechanical issues that meant it cost pocket change turn out to be mostly fixable for Grace - it becomes “theirs” in a way the jeep isn’t. Sarah needs the jeep anyway, and takes off on her own for two weeks to do… whatever Sarah Connor does for two weeks on her own. Dani wonders for the first time if she got more than prison transport shackles back in that store. Good for her, she thinks, and raises her glass.

Ironically, it proves easier to get false ID documents for Dani than Grace, so she does the driving. Not many people who look like Grace seem to be in the market for them, it seems. **** ~~~~

*****

The cue to pick up where they’d been before is another thing that’s unspoken – things just feel “normal” again one night.

They start again with some of the items they’ve used before. It’s been long enough that Dani’s a little impressed to think of what they’d tried already.

The plugs still seem a little illicit compared to the everything else so far though. Enough that they haven’t tried them right away, but also enough that maybe trying them at all feels like they might as well go for broke.

“Would you uh…” Grace starts, a little nervously one morning, “- How would you feel about wearing this one out?”

She indicates a slim little silvered-steel one with an oversized fake gemstone on the base.

"Out?"

It takes a moment for Dani to understand.

“Oh as in… _out?_ In the street?”

“Yeah,” she says, like her nerve is failing a little.

Dani regards her thoughtfully, but with a flicker of curiosity.

“Like… a possessive thing?” she asks, recalling the collar they have somewhere and haven’t used yet either.

“No, it’s more like…” Grace starts, squirming uncomfortably in the bed while she tries to pick her words, “- Having a secret? Keeping a secret for me. I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about it.”

“That’s a very sweet way of putting something so filthy,” Dani says with a laugh.

Dani is still a little more shy of her body in some ways Grace isn’t. Which is maybe the point, maybe that’s exactly why Grace likes the idea. It’s not something Dani would _ever_ do if not asked, and maybe not for anybody else.

She considers it.

“I haven’t done anything like that. Would it hurt?”

“I don’t want it to hurt,” Grace shakes her head. “It shouldn’t, I’ll go slow and if you want to stop-”

“ _You’ll_ go slow?” she says, with a raised eyebrow.

Grace looks a little caught.

“Yeah, I figured I could…”

“I see. You have been thinking about it,” she says boldly, “Picturing it even.”

“A little," Grace says. "Yeah.”

“Okay. And tell me, what did you like about this picture?”

“I liked, uh… I liked that you trusted me to put it into you, and… I liked seeing your body take it in, and hold it.”

Her confidence steadies a little.

“- I liked thinking about how, if you walked around with it in before you put your clothes on I could just see it now and then.”

Dani studies her.

“Go on.”

“And I liked the idea of knowing it was there when we’re just walking down the street, because nobody would ever…”

“Nobody would expect I was walking around with something like that inside me because I’m so good and innocent?”

“Right.”

Dani weighs this all up, and says she’ll think about it.

It’s not a _No_ \- though Grace stresses again that a “No” would be well within her rights - but for now they leave it at that.

A few days later, they need to head into town to get some supplies.

Dani has a long shower and calls Grace to the bedroom, where she finds the little silver plug and the bottle of lube presented neatly on a handtowel on the bed.

“Slowly.” Dani says sternly.

“Yeah” Grace says, her brain scrambling to catch up. She comes into the room and kisses Dani’s face, “- If you’re sure. And if you change your mind-”

Dani kisses her back.

“Don’t chicken out on me now.”

Grace has her bend over and lean on a chair. It’s truly something to see her naked body posed like that in the morning light, and Grace takes a moment to appreciate it before proceeding. Every inch of her is beautiful.

The plastic bottle is warm to the touch; Dani must have taken it into the shower to heat it up.

“Clever” she murmurs aloud.

“I thought so,” Dani beams proudly.

Grace kisses the back of Dani's shoulder.

“Relax. I’ll tell you before I do anything,” she says. “Just relax.”

Grace slides her left hand under Dani’s belly as if to hold her still. It’s comforting. Reassuring and affectionate, and a little authoritative.

 _“I have you”_ and _"I'm here"_ \- but also _“You’re not going anywhere_ ” and _“This is going to happen”._

Dani gets a little thrill from all of it. She can enjoy these slightly contradictory things freely, knowing Grace would back off in a heartbeat if she wanted.

“I’m just going to touch you, to warm you up,” she says, "That's all.”

She strokes the liquid she’s applied to her other hand up and down the cleft of Dani’s ass with her fingers. She rests herself against Dani's body - " _I'm here_ ". She gradually hones in on the tight little grasp of muscle, and feels Dani tense back up a little.

“It’s okay. I’m still just touching you, that's all.”

She massages a gentle little circuit over the muscle for a while, until she's relaxed enough again to give a little.

“I’m going to touch inside you when I know you’re ready. You can push a little, just to open up.”

The hand on her belly slips back and forth reassuringly, and Dani nods.

She pushes gently with the pad of her finger, and Dani wills herself to relax, until she feels the pressure dip into her a little. She feels a few different warring impulses, not least something like embarrassment. But she reassures herself - how much she trusts Grace, how thoroughly she cleaned herself, how she _knows_ she can handle it.

“It’s okay, that’s all, that’s all it is. Just a little bit more like that,” she says. “You’re doing amazing” she adds reverently, in a quieter kind of tone.

The pressure keeps coming, and she definitely comes up against the hand steadying her. It keeps her firmly where she is - _This is going to happen._ There’s more, and it is an _extremely_ intense sensation. But after the shock wears off it’s _not_ painful; it’s so much easier to relax once she finally believes that.

“Okay?”

Dani nods again.

Grace kisses her back again as she readies the plug itself. Dani was careful with the liquid, and she's careful too, clasping the plug in her hand as she lubricates it, to warm it up. She brings her hand back under Dani’s stomach, and starts drawing the tip of the little plug along the same paths she drew with her finger tips earlier.

Dani’s past the psychological barrier though, and she’s a little more confident and curious now than she is anxious.

“Okay.”

The hand on her stomach strokes her affectionately.

“Okay. It'll be easier if you push out a little. Once it’s in some it’ll happen by itself the rest of the way. Okay?”

Dani takes slow breaths and nods.

“Yeah.”

She feels the tip push in, a little easier at first than Grace’s finger. But the pressure keeps coming, filling space that wasn’t even there before, and she feels it the diameter of it grows as it sinks deeper into her. She remembers what Grace said and pushes out a little, willing herself to relax, to keep her nerve. The plug keeps pushing and she has to consciously remind herself how small it really was when it was lying on the towel. She can feel Grace’s concern, ready to back off, and she knows there must be strain written all over her body, but she _knows_ she can handle it.

Just like that, the plug passes some barrier of resistance. Just like Grace said, it comes into her by itself the rest of the way. It sinks home and she feels the flat base up against her with a little bit of disbelief, panting, glad of the chair and Grace’s hand to keep her steady.

Grace comes in from nowhere to kiss her face excitedly, like _she’s_ relieved, and Dani almost laughs.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, just… wow, this is a lot.”

She can feel Grace scanning her face carefully for any misgivings, relaxing a little when she detects none.

She lets herself feel it. It does feel a little wrong, but she knows that’s in her head. It sits so neatly inside her, after all. She feels Grace’s hands hover lightly around her with concern as she stands up straight.

“I’m definitely going to know it’s there the whole way to town and back. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“That was incredible” Grace says, like Dani’s statement missed her entirely. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, it is.”

Grace slides her palm down the slope of her buttock, as if to reassure Dani or herself again that it’s done, and steps back to admire their handiwork.

“How is…?”

Dani bites her lip, and takes another moment, getting a feel for how it shifts inside her when she tilts her hips a little. She takes an experimental step, and then another, feeling how keenly aware she is of a movement inside her she’s never felt before.

“It’s uh… new. I don’t think I’ll get used to it.

“You have to get dressed right away?” Grace says, half mumbling, distracted by the quick glitter of a tacky plastic jewel in sunlight. She looks back up to Dani as she lightly touches the base with her index finger, and Dani’s brain skips a track.

“When we go to the store you’re doing all the talking, because I am not going to be able to concentrate.”

Grace nods keenly, not taking her eyes off her. She doesn't like taking the lead like that, but it's the least she can do considering.

“Deal,” she says, and after a moment of consideration risks smacking her open palm back down. Dani feels it radiate like the ripples of an earthquake.

She does get dressed eventually, though she feels the thing every single second, and Grace’s eyes on her in turn. She finds she begins enjoying both, and thinks of reasons to cross the room away from her, or lean over, quite gratuitously. There is one unanticipated complication though – she _will_ have to drive.

“We don't know what kind of shit that cashier was into,” Grace says, very matter of fact, twisted in the passenger seat to take in a full view of Dani while she drives, “- She probably knew exactly what was happening. Everyone probably did, they could probably see it all over your face.”

They’re on their way home from the longest grocery run Dani’s ever done in her life.

“Don’t tease me if you ever want to do this again sometime,” Dani says, glowering at the road.

“We’re definitely doing it again” Grace says, before she can catch herself.

She knows, logically, nobody was staring, she’s just not sure it _feels_ true. Though, to be fair, she wouldn’t blame them for wondering why that feverish looking young Mexican woman seemed so distracted, or why her taller, paler companion seemed to watch every move she makes so intently.

For that matter, _she_ had certainly noticed more of a swagger in Grace's walk than usual; and her interesting new habit of placing her hand on the small of Dani’s back as they enter doors or cross the street.

“Sometimes I think I preferred you when you were less-”

“Shit,” Grace cuts her off, sitting up straight. Sirens flare a second later and a police cruiser signals them to pull over.

Dani swears in disbelief. No way. 

This cannot possibly be happening. Today of all days, now of all times? They haven’t seen cops on this road as long as they’ve been using this safehouse.

On a normal day, it wouldn't be a huge deal. Sarah’s ID and plate hook ups have never failed them, and they’ve gotten good at keeping their respective cools. But this isn't a normal day - she couldn’t possibly look _more_ suspicious, more like she’s hiding something. She _is_ hiding something.

She and Grace trade a serious look, and compose themselves. She is incredibly aware of the plug as she tries to remember how to sit comfortably; the van pulls over very carefully.

The officer barks instructions from her car and then approaches. “Maria” and “Helen” play along obediently.

The officer is a burly woman who never takes her shades off. Dani struggles to concentrate entirely, to ignore the presence of the little lightning rod she feels screaming in her. The officer goes through the motions; they play their parts, they recite their respective lines. Dani can't avoid having to think and speak this time - she's the driver, and the officer addresses her directly the whole time as the minutes seem to grind past.

But it’s clear to Grace at least that she lost interest the moment she saw their faces. She waits until she can clearly see and hear the cop confirm nothing of interest over her radio before her fight/flight response subsides entirely. She didn’t even bother recording their details. She figures the cop had particular people in mind, probably some local guys she knows on sight. Their luck has been dramatically mixed today.

They pull away as naturally as they can and proceed on their journey. They’ll have to change the plates and maybe alter the van when they get back, but that can be tomorrow’s problem.

A few miles later, Dani is calm enough to return to thinking of pretty much the only problem she’s thought about all day.

She tries to think about something else, though she doesn't get far. The incident does prompt her, a little further down the road, to ask about uniforms and roleplay. Grace just shrugs. Which, again, makes a kind of intuitive sense to Dani. She's lived most of her life as a soldier, costumes and language of that kind could hardly have any charm left for her.

She does confess in return though, that she's not so immune. She does like the idea of Grace in clean, freshly pressed formal blues of some kind.

“...like, a police uniform? Like the cop back there?” Grace says, thinking this over.

“Maybe. Only on you though, not in general.”

Grace raises an eyebrow.

"So.… would a security guard uniforms-”

“Shut up.”

She nods to herself as if Dani said yes.

“Good to know” she says, quietly pleased to discover she’d made such an impression all that time ago. She’s smart enough to leave that be, rather than put Dani off it by teasing too hard. She hasn't even had time to really consider it, she's loathe to rule it out yet

Instead, she lets it lie. With a little more encouragement, Dani goes on to admit she can imagine feeling a little differently about having her hands cuffed in that context. It would be different, she says, if it was all part of an overt play-act and, she stresses, it was Grace. Plain cuffs, not the big scary black ones they have. Maybe. She’s not sure.

Like the van, that’s something to think about another time.

*****

“How you holding up?” Grace says, as they walk in the door.

“Just glad we made it back. I don’t think I’d have survived a patdown.”

“I'm really sorry, that wasn’t part of the plan,” Grace says remorsefully, though she qualifies her apology almost immediately – “It _was_ pretty great though. How did it feel?”

“Hard. But it was mostly fun right up until the cop. And it felt…”

She grasps for the words she wants. What she settles with isn’t quite right, but it’s as close as she can get.

“As scary as it was, it was kind of a… secure? Everything else felt scary, but it felt like something safe. I don’t think that makes sense, but…”

She shrugs.

“And I could always feel you were always close. A secret we had, like you said.”

Grace listens intently, glad to know she hadn’t asked for too much.

“Thank you for that whole thing. I mean it. And I’m sorry about the cop, again.”

“You’re lucky to have me,” Dani nods, with exaggerated sincerity. But Grace knows that already.

“You want me to make it up to you?” she says, pulling Dani slowly in, her hands creeping around Dani’s waist, and inching down dangerously. “Or show my gratitude?”

“Yes,” Dani says, nodding seriously to both.

“You have something in mind already?” Grace asks, amused, an observation as much as a question.

“I had _plenty_ of time to think while we were in line at the store.”

Anything that can wait to be taken into the house, will wait to be taken into the house.

*********

She makes Grace sit and wait as she gathers a few things. The plug stays where it is for now.

When Dani returns she looks a little pensive. Grace is intrigued.

“You like that I can’t forget it’s there, right?”

“Yes.”

She offers Grace the clamps, the little silver ones with the bells.

“You like these for the same reason?”

Grace hesitates, then nods, and takes Dani’s invitation.

She fixes them onto her carefully – they’re not too harsh, but they’re enough to make Dani hiss sharply twice as they close around first one nipple, and then the other. Grace rings them gently with her thumbs, and looks up for Dani’s reaction.

Dani winces, but she leaves Grace with a slow smile. They ring again as she reaches to get something else she's brought over.

“So… would you try wearing this for me?”

Grace looks surprised, and a little impressed at Dani’s boldness.

*********

The collar doesn’t match the cuffs, so to speak.

The cuffs were expensive, black leather with steel fittings. The collar - and leash with it - wasn’t exactly cheap and it’s definitely not flimsy; but they picked it up on a whim without really expecting to use it, and didn’t give it as much thought. It’s made with heavy padded nylon strapping in red and black, and fastens with a single continuous strip of Velcro rather than a buckle.

That turns out to suit just fine.

Grace looks up at Dani and lifts her head to accept it. Dani watches her carefully as she wraps it closed over her slender throat, just in case she changes her mind or finds it too tight.

“Okay?”

Grace rolls her head to get a feel for it.

“Could stand to be a little tighter” she says, evenly. She’s not showboating - she means what she says. Dani pulls it open and refastens it until Grace is satisfied, definitely a few degrees tighter than she would have been comfortable doing herself otherwise.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, what’s next?”

What’s next are the big leather cuffs. Dani straps the cuffs on each of Grace’s offered wrists, and then climbs carefully onto the bed behind her to link them behind her back. She clips the cuffs right to each other, without the chain, so her hands are tight to each other.

She’s been thinking about something else lately too. Now’s a good time to try it. The ankle cuffs adjust wider than the wrist ones they usually use, wide enough to fit over Grace’s upper arms. She fastens them on - wincing a little as her own clamps and the plug make themselves known now and then - and then links the chain between them, tugging it tight enough that Grace brings her shoulders back for her before she finally clips it in place.

She can sense Grace’s patient curiosity before she comes back in front of her to see her face. Grace waits until she does to flex against her restraints a little, just enough to demonstrate them in action for Dani’s benefit. 

Bringing her shoulders back so tight has brought her chest forward, presenting her breasts proudly to Dani. The effect is quite striking, and she and Dani trade a wicked look that says they’re both quite aware of it. Dani’s tempted to really take advantage of it, and get the other set of clamps for her - but that might be risky for what she has planned, so she decides against it. She settles for running the flat of her hand down Grace’s pale sternum once, and feeling her shift anxiously where she is in her cuffs for some attention. She's bristling a little with anticipation already - when she flexes against the cuffs this time, it's not simply showmanship.

But she says nothing - she settles, she looks up to Dani faithfully as she waits for the next step. Dani passes her palm over her eyes softly for a second.

“You should see yourself while you can, blindfold is next.”

There’s a full length mirror on the closet door, so she does. The extra cuffs higher up on her arms affect the form of her whole body a lot. It’s interesting. And the collar isn’t rigid, but she still finds herself unconsciously lifting her head up away from it into a high posture. The leash hangs in front of her, swinging a little with movement - easily available to Dani, well out of her own reach. It’s also… interesting.

Dani leans behind her again, presumably to get the blindfold, but maybe also to give Grace one last glimpse of the plug, to remind her it’s there too. Some kind of fabric touches Grace’s closed hands.

“Hold this for me? It's a surprise.”

She opens her hands and accepts whatever it is. It feels like the little bag Dani stores some of their playthings in.

Dani takes a last chance to look in Grace’s bright blue eyes and snap a kiss, before she hides them behind their thick facemask blindfold. She fixes it carefully - she wants it to be very secure.

“Anything? Like, normal eyes, no augment stuff.”

“No,” Grace chuckles, because Dani’s kidding. That would be cheating, and she knows Grace wouldn't.

Still, she confirms it by bringing her hand over Grace’s cheek and over her eye. Grace leans for contact out of instinct, but her reaction is delayed and imprecise. She’s convinced.

“All done. You look so good.”

“Take your word for it.”

Dani takes the end of the leash and wraps it around her hand in gradual loops to take out some slack. Not all of it – enough that Grace might have to pay attention to interpret what direction it’s bringing her.

“Are we going somewhere?”

“Not far. I’ll be careful with you. Bring your surprise.”

Dani guides Grace carefully to her feet with the leash. She takes her a few small steps forward just to make sure this will work, and then she leads her onwards in earnest.

Grace isn’t sure right away if she’s being led somewhere in particular or if Dani is trailing her around for her own enjoyment – she’s consciously trying not to get her bearings by concentrating instead on the collar, the cuffs, the pull of the strap, the sound of chain links shifting. She knows that’s the effect Dani wants.

Dani brings her maybe 15 short paces -

“Doorway, careful for the next few steps”

\- a few shorter ones through the door, and then about 20 paces more. She has an idea of where she is in the house, but it's imprecise. Dani led her in wide arcs around a few apparent obstacles here or there on the way. Maybe to be cautious, maybe just to throw her off balance a little.

The bag is taken from her hands and the leash goes slack. She hears movement, soft things being arranged, and every so often the sweet little sound of little silver bells she can picture very clearly.

She can feel sunlight on her skin, and senses Dani moving in front of her.

“Okay, careful.”

The leash takes her forward a few more steps, and then pulls down, until she must get to one knee, and Dani’s hand appears on her shoulder to steady her. She finds a pillow at her feet and – carefully – kneels down onto it.

She hears heavier movement she recognizes as furniture, a particularly large armchair being pulled forward, and her mind makes the leap.

Dani leans down to kiss her again before taking her seat and arranging herself. The rest of the slack is wound away until Dani’s fist is tight against the collar itself. Grace is pulled carefully forward, far enough that she’s now relying on Dani for balance. She feels Dani either side of her, and recognizes her scent. It's mostly instinct from there, Dani only has to guide her where she wants her more exactly.

She hears Dani give an abrupt moan the second her mouth finds home, and the tight grip on the collar forces her closer. Dani’s already very wet - she has been enjoying herself today more than Grace had suspected - but even she’s unprepared for how eager Grace is, how much want she’s had time to build up for the last few hours and satisfy at last.

Now the plug works with her. It amplifies and echoes every rush of sensation Grace works out of her. It’s good, it’s very good – Grace plunders her so ferociously she jerks the leash more roughly than she means to, more than once. Grace doesn’t care. Grace is lost. Grace has devoted herself to only one thing in the world for the rest of her life. She finds her bearings by touch and taste, and the simple, binary demands of the leash. More, less. Left, right. Closer, back.

Dani feels like she’s being devoured. Of course she’s unprepared, how was there any preparing for this? She can just bring herself to pull Grace away for some respite, just to try to prolong it. Even then she can feel Grace fight her a little, straining blindly at the leash like an animal, for her; aware only of Dani, of wetness, warmth and pulsing muscle. With her arms so tight behind her back, and the way she’s leaning in, only Dani is keeping her upright, and she doesn’t care. 

Mouth, tongue, licking, suckling, teasing, pushing. Grace is relentless. The idea of trying to make it last evaporates. She wouldn’t survive much more of this even if she did want to, and she doesn’t - she wants more, wants all of it. Why not?

She swears at the ceiling and jerks back with a smile on her face, pulling Grace further in for her, and that’s it.

The climax is a firebomb, it catches and ignites outwards in an instant, and then it’s relentless and all consuming. Whatever control she has over Grace, she loses all over her own body, and the noises she makes feel like something beyond her.

It’s the kind or orgasm she can tell is winding up to last, and she prepares to ride through it blissfully, but suddenly a thunderbolt strikes her still-raw nerves and jerks her back to earth for a second. Grace will keep going unless she’s stopped; Dani yanks the leash back desperately in shock, hard enough she feels guilty the second she does.

Grace only grins blindly up at her, gleefully unrepentant.

Still, Dani decides to take no chances this time. She keeps Grace firmly where she is while she catches her breath. Even now she can feel her test the leash a little, she could swear - there’s enough tension against her grip to make her arm start to tingle.

Grace eventually relents, pulling back to wait at bay a little sullenly.

As Dani cools and collects herself, she decides she needs to see Grace's eyes more than she wants to keep her blinded. She pulls the blindfold off, carefully shielding her from the shock of light for a second, before she lets her blink her sight back. Her eyes are still wild, and her face and hair are a mess. Dani combs her fingers through her hair on impulse, as though that will undo the state she’s made of her. When she leans down to kiss her, she can taste everything - Grace responds with a hungry, compulsive kiss she'd pursue frantically if Dani didn't pull away.

She looks up at Dani unsatisfied, chest rising and falling hard; she’s still only stalled reluctantly, and really only held by the little metal clip where her collar meets Dani’s leash. Dani suspects that if she put the blindfold back on and gave her back a few inches of slack, Grace would carry on where she left off until both their brains were jello.

“Fuck” she says, to herself and Grace both, shaking her head in amazement.

Grace looks a little disappointed she’s apparently done for now, but she accepts it without complaint.

Dani reclines in the seat to catch her breath a little more - the clamps and plug nag again as she does – but Grace has to rebalance, reminding her she’s still gripping the leash tight. She unwinds one loop, just enough that she can make herself comfortable safely, not enough for Grace to go anywhere.

“I’m not done with you yet, don’t look so worried.”

That seems to appease her. Dani decides she can afford to take a few more moments. Maybe enjoy the view a little. From the steady burn of her blue eyes, Grace seems to be quietly enjoying her view too.

*****

When she starts to chill and her muscles threaten to stiffen, it’s time to resume.

She stands up out of the chair, brushing her hand over Grace’s cheek for a second as she moves behind her, and feels Grace’s gaze follow the clamps as they move past her.

She gives Grace another two loops of slack so she’ll have room to work. The thick black straps look dramatic on her wrists and upper arms, especially against the pale lines of her scars, and the strain they must be putting on her shoulders is obvious. They seem to bring out every muscle she has, and Dani lets herself play her hand over her stressed shoulder blades before unclipping the chain between them. She decides to leave the upper cuffs themselves on her - she’s decided she likes how they look on Grace’s biceps, a lot.

Grace slacks her shoulders and Dani takes a moment to massage her, as thoroughly as the collar will allow.

“I’m going to do your hands again, you should stretch before we keep going.”

She brings her back onto her feet with the leash, carefully, and unclips the cuffs from Grace’s wrists. Grace flexes and stretches as Dani turns her where she stands, and then moves behind her. She hears fabric dragging over the heavy arm chair behind her.

“Take a seat.”

There’s a soft towel set out for her.

“You expecting to make a mess?”

“I sure hope so. Hands?”

Grace shakes her hands out once or twice to keep Dani happy before holding them up. Dani cuffs them to each other at the wrist again, this time in front, and reaches with one hand for the little bag she had Grace bring in. The leash tugs a little as she does – she hasn’t once let it go since this started, Grace notes. Not once.

Grace raises an eyebrow when she returns with the Pleasurizer. It’s a “clitoral stimulator”, a knockoff of something notorious, and another item they picked up mostly as an afterthought. From passing experiments with it, it’s effective, but since it’s mostly designed for solo use, they haven’t bothered with it much.

Grace doesn't tend to think of sex toys as pretty or not, but she does think the Pleasurizer is particularly ugly. It’s a chunky bulbous shape, in a strangely medicinal shade of pink, with a little ringed silicon suction cushion poking out at a right angle. Dani has compared it to an ear thermometer, and Grace imagines that’s about right. The manufacturer was clearly confident its reputation would sell itself though, and Grace always respects function over form.

Dani puts it in both Grace’s hands, and turns it on at the lowest setting. It makes a deceptively quiet little thumping sound.

She smooths down Grace’s hair again softly, and steps back.

“Go ahead, all the way” she says.

Grace takes a second to seat the device. The cuffs make her just a little bit clumsy, and it’s awkward to angle to herself in the armchair. Dani probably wants it to be though.

The quiet little thumps get even quieter as she seals it lightly over her clit. She lets a slow breath. It’s not a feeling quite like anything else, this toy. The fluttering sensation where the little suction cup meets her body feels delicate, but the response from her body soon starts to build like a broad, powerful bass note. Grace has only played around with it briefly before - she wonders now what it’s like the whole way through, the effect is quickly stronger than she'd expected.

“You can turn it up if you need to.”

She murmurs an acknowledgement. Not yet. She will. She’s already making humid little gasps, absorbed enough in this strange, exponential pleasure that she starts closing her eyes to cope with it.

It’s enough for her to bow her head forward, but Dani strokes her hair with her leash hand and guides her back, tilting her face up.

“No, look at me,” she says gently.

Grace nods as best she can against the collar, and Dani steps back as far as her outstretched arm will allow, leash held firmly. She stands up straight and away, her arm sure and strong. She is beautiful to look at, especially like this; especially with this poise, especially with this confidence, with sunshine on her glittering silver jewellery and the warm tones of her skin.

Grace feels a frustrating push of crossed impulses, and now she understands the trap - she’s already far enough gone to need the toy like a lifeline, but they both know the further it takes her, the more desperate she will get to reach and touch for her lover, that's just her instinct. Her cuffed hands can’t manage both, although they're already pulling against each other in their bonds anyway. Her body is screaming for two different things, and she must choose and keep choosing one or the other.

Dani smiles to her fondly as she sees her put it together, and brings her hand down to hold her cheek. The leash wrapped around her hand is rough against Grace’s face, but she is grateful for the contact anyway, it’s just enough to keep her sane a while longer. Dani’s fingers and her palm are so soft and comforting, it’s a confusing contrast with the boorish kind of pleasure the toy is starting to wrench from her body. It’s hard to believe how big the effect is for such an awkward, quiet little device, and how maddening it is to fight off the need for something much less defined in the meantime.

All she’d have to do is reach out. She’s not even sure what she’d do, but she could do it. Her hands could do what they wanted, her mouth have what it needed. She can come later, whenever, she’ll live. Hell, she might live longer than she will like _this,_ with Dani’s dark, sympathetic gaze taking in every twitch and trial of her agony, soothing her sweetly through it.

But that’s not the game, is it? That’s what Dani wants too. Dani wants her to come, wants her to have no choice but to let her body have its way.

Her body starts to wrack a little, and she has to focus to readjust the soft little silicon ring in place. The choice is made, then.

Dani gives her enough rein not to hurt herself, but no more. Her arm stays stiff and sure, and Grace stays where it lets her.

Grace gazes up at her, held safely in her palm, adoration in her eyes that's at odds with the chaotic pulses and spasms visibly starting to overtake her. Dani holds her head up for as long as Grace can manage to focus; when it’s clear she’s done all she’s able to, Dani relaxes her hold and lets her lean into it.

She makes a rough, stuttering cry to match the onset of a rough, overpowering orgasm, one that seems to _push_ through her of its own accord, like a stampede.

She’s aware of the leash dropping slack entirely and almost sobs with relief when she feels Dani against her at last. A hand over both her own and the toy they’re gripping to breaking point, a hand in her hair to console her, a warm rain of loving kisses across her face and neck. She’s beside herself with joy. It goes from a compulsive, physical climax to something else, and Dani pulls in close enough over her to climb partway onto the chair and nestle in against her, telling her how much she deserves, how much she is worth.

She comes to velvety words in her ear, and Dani nuzzling softly against her. The toy drops from her hands and hits the floor, and it’s all she can do to lean gratefully back into Dani's embrace. Her hands are trapped between them; Dani uses the opportunity to run her hands all over her bare skin just for the sake of it, just to say again that she’s there until she comes back to reality.

“I am lucky to have you” Dani says, and if Grace had any way left to blush, she would.

She lifts her cuffs over Dani easily in a loop and pulls her to sit on her knee gruffly, making her laugh.

“Towel _was_ a good idea” she says with haze on her voice, settling her wrists around Dani’s waist, and Dani laughs again.

“I planned ahead,” she says, and offers her a glass of orange sports drink with some half melted ice cubes in it.

She gratefully accepts it to her lips, and Dani tips it up carefully. She drinks until it’s drained.

“Where did that come from? I don't remember seeing that.”

“You didn’t see much, that was the point.”

Grace rolls her eyes with a slightly crumpled smile.

She’s already visibly recovering though, something Dani always marvels at. Grace can come back from the bring of oblivion, with just a little help. She’ll need a shot later, but just water and sugar has a nearly instant effect that’ll tide her over easily until then.

Dani unclips the leash and tosses it away. She finds the end of the velcro and peels it away to release the collar.

“Oh shit. Grace I’m so sorry-”

There’s an angry red friction burn on the left side of her neck, where the collar has scalded a strip against her. Dani realizes she probably did it early on, too, when she yanked hard by accident, and aggravated it since.

“It’s fine.”

“No, I’m so sorry, shit, I didn’t know…”

She has the sweetest frown of concern, and Grace can’t help wanting to smile about it even though she sounds very serious.

“No really, I barely felt it. It’ll heal by tomorrow. I’m fine.”

The frown of concern becomes a mild reproach. Dani gently tips Grace’s head aside to examine the damage.

“You should say about stuff like this so I can stop Grace, I don’t like hurting you.”

She doesn't. This is "real" hurting, and she would never mean to do something like this to Grace. It compounds the sin to have marked her perfect throat.

“We’re never using _that_ again,” she concludes eventually, a pointed contempt for the collar where she says “that”.

“It’s fine Dani, I enjoyed it.”

She frowns.

“You liked it that much we’ll get a different one, but that one’s going right in the trash. Stay here.”

Dani extricates herself from Grace’s arms and heads out of the room. She returns with her hair hastily tied up, and a little bottle of aloe vera gel.

“Warn me if I’m hurting you, I mean it,” she says sternly.

“I will.”

The gel’s cooling and Grace doesn’t object to it, but it probably does do more for Dani’s frown than anything else. Grace can live with pain, and it will heal by itself in no time.

When that’s done, she runs her fingertip remorsefully down the turn of Grace’s jaw.

“I feel terrible. Let me make it up to you?”

Grace makes a show of thinking it over.

“Depends. What are you offering?”

“Your wrists okay? You don’t need out? And _don’t_ bullshit me,” Dani says, leaving no room for argument.

Grace nods emphatically.

Dani narrows her eyes and studies her for a second before accepting it. They’ve tested the cuffs plenty already, one way or another, so she is a lot more confident about them anyway.

“Okay,” she says, “Well then can you help me take these damn things off, because I've lost my patience them.”

She pushes Grace’s wrists down and away, and offers herself to make it clear she means the clamps. Grace looks up at her doubtfully.

“Take them off for me, make it better afterwards.”

Grace hesitates and then, looking up at her, leans forward and takes up one of the little bells in her mouth.

She releases it with her teeth as gently as she’s able, but senses Dani wince anyway. She drops it and returns to soothe Dani’s poor, sore nipple, with soft lips and a gentle tongue, and sees her sigh blissfully instead. That’s much better.

She ends with a playful little kiss to signal she’s finished, and Dani offers the other one. This one she starts with a little kiss over the clamp, but this time when she takes it in her teeth Dani pulls away a little to have it tug off harshly. She makes herself wince, but smiles - it’s playful too. Grace hears her hiss before the bell clinks off the floor.

“Thank you.”

Grace takes her time to take care of this one, worshipping away the ache of this precious little bud. She makes it last, enough that Dani starts losing her train of thought. She moans softly, and guides Grace away.

“You are very good, but I think I’m at my limit. Let’s clean you up.”

Grace looks at little crestfallen, but Dani lifts the cuffs up and steps under them so they rest at the back of her neck. Grace almost sighs with relief to realize she's just being coy.

She gets to her knees on the pillow she’d left for Grace, and positions herself. She strokes the outside of Grace's legs and kisses a trail from the inside of her knee inward along her firm thigh. There’s little point in politely insisting this won’t be necessary - they both feel some muscle in her thigh tremble for a moment when she does.

Dani braces her hands around Grace’s legs and sweeps her tongue gently along her still sensitive inner lips. There is to be nothing more that’s rough or hard or hasty for Grace today. She’s to be adored. She’s still a little raw from coming already - Dani knows that. She knows her inside out, and she will stoke her onwards only at a pace she knows she can handle.

“Dani…“ she whispers reverently, shaking her head in slow wonder. Dani looks right up to her from between her thighs, and it catches Grace off guard like a shock.

“ _Dani-_ ” she wavers, and Dani thinks she hears an abrupt metal sound; but then Grace spreads her hands spread gently against the back of her head, loose locks of dark hair spilling over her fingers, and she calms. Dani’s eyes are so beautiful, her gaze is so deep and warm Grace can almost feel it on her like a comforting touch.

She moans as Dani treasures every hidden inch of her with her mouth, slowly and thoroughly. She’s careful too, not to put too much direct attention on her clit until she’s ready. When it’s time, Dani pushes into her carefully, and soothes her back down a little before she starts curling her finger just the way she likes - not too much, just enough that she will simmer up comfortably.

This is the opposite to the urgent, convulsive sensation of the toy. It feels less like she’s trying to make her come, and more like she is tending to her, caring for her.

The scale of how Dani loves her sometimes feels overwhelming, so immense Grace fears sometimes she won’t know the right thing to do with it; it’s daunting to hold something so precious. But Dani makes it so undeniable she can only accept it regardless. She makes sure to.

She will accept this, too, just as gladly.

She lets herself fall back in the chair to give in to it entirely. Dani’s murmured approval sends warm ripples right through her – _that’s right. That's okay, that's good._

Dani guides her carefully towards a climax, and it comes languorous and easy. It’s not the typhoon of earlier – this time, it descends on her, like a cleansing summer rain. Dani laps her sweetly through it and beyond, until she brings her hands back and sinks them into her hair with her name on a sigh.

Dani looks to her fondly as they lean against each other afterwards, and Grace loops Dani’s unkempt hair back behind her ears. She brings her hands back to draw under her jaw and frame her face gently.

Dani frowns – that doesn’t make sense.

“Did- Did you break the cuffs?”

“Like fifteen minutes ago” Grace says nodding between unsteady breaths, looking unsure if she should apologize or not, or for what.

“Sorry,” she decides on eventually.

Dani gives a breathless laugh, and leans against Grace’s thigh with a broad kiss.

Grace helps her up when she’s ready, and Dani laughs again at half a broken link rattling on one cuff as she does. She looks around and finds a matching steel fragment on the ground.

“Show off,” she says, with mock reproach. Grace shrugs and pulls her into an embrace, with a playful squeeze. She towers over Dani at her full height again, and Dani has to look right up to glare at her stubbornly.

“It was an accident,” she says. “If I was showing off, I’d have made sure you saw it.”

“- And why didn’t you?”

“Well, you were so _busy_ , and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

"Sure."

Dani examines the broken piece and Grace offers her the corresponding cuff to show where it broke. It didn’t give way at any obvious weak point – Grace simply twisted it apart with brute force.

“We should put this in a trophy cabinet somewhere, along with that gag you destroyed. Might as well, I don’t think we’ll get a refund.”

“You’re starting to make me very expensive,” Grace agrees sagely, and Dani laughs through a kiss.

“On that note, I think I’ve had enough of this lucky charm of yours, I need to go take it out.”

“You want help?”

“Not this time, I’d prefer not. Shower though? After?”

“Sure.”

“Let me take these off you first, I want to make sure I haven’t done you any other damage you're not telling me about.”

She unbuckles each of Grace’s wrist cuffs, inspecting and rubbing each wrist carefully to be sure. She unbuckles the ones on each of her upper arms and does the same.

“Good, I feel guilty enough already about your poor neck,” she says, her eyes going back to the accusing raw red stripe, touching the unhurt skin as close to it as she dares.

“I'd hate to get any kind of scar,” Grace says, somberly.

Dani smacks her shoulder.

“That’s not funny.”

Grace kisses her anyway, grinning triumphantly to herself as she pulls her back in.

“I will worry about you much less in future if that’s what you want” Dani pouts in her arms.

Grace looks appalled.

“Don’t even joke about that.”

She stays behind to gather up while Dani takes the longest possible path out of the room in case she’s watching. Which she is.

They trade a few more unsubtle glances, and smile to themselves about each other. The many enjoyable ways they are predictable, and all the ways they are not.


End file.
